Alex Landenburg has been one of the busiest drummers in the metal scene for many years. And that should not be too surprising. There aren’t many drummers more suitable for metal that is both melodic and progressive than the friendly German. Last year, after playing with the band for six years, he finally released his recording debut with Kamelot in the shape of ‘The Awakening’.
“In 2017, I played one show as a stand-in for Casey (Grillo, former Kamelot drummer)”, Landenburg explains. “In San Bernardino, as Iron Maiden’s support act. But before that, I had already been in touch with Thomas (Youngblood, Kamelot’s guitarist and band leader) and Kamelot for a long time. In 2003 or 2005, Thomas had already asked me if I would be able to help out if necessary, because Casey couldn’t play their tour at the time.
He got in touch with me because someone I know played keyboards with Kamelot at the time: Günter Werno from Vanden Plas. Günter is also from Saarland: from the moment I was born, he and I have never lived more than 10 kilometers apart. We even played a few gigs together. At the time, Thomas just thought I wasn’t experienced enough yet.
I was very young, and I hadn’t played any big tours yet, so Alex Holzwarth eventually ended up playing the tour. Around the same time, I kind of replaced Alex in Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody. It’s always interesting to see how small the scene is.”
Learning Songs on the Plane
“So the contact was already there. And that is why it wasn’t all that surprising to me when Thomas asked me to stand in for that show in 2017. I didn’t think anything of it; I just thought it was one show, and of course I’m willing to help out. On the day of the show, however, Thomas asked me if I wanted to join the band.
Unfortunately, that would have been a bit complicated at the time. Cyhra had just signed a record deal with Spinefarm, and that had just been announced. So I had to tell Thomas: as much as I would love to play with you guys, I cannot join the band officially immediately after announcing Cyhra. He asked me again twice, and both times I gave him the same answer. That is when he asked Johan Nunez from Firewind to be their drummer.
Eventually, things didn’t work out with Johan. He had been suffering from an injury and health issues. It was clear he would not be able to play the tour. That was in 2018. I was at the Musikmesse in Frankfurt when Thomas asked me to do the tour. Three or four days later, I was on the plane to the USA for their American tour. I have more or less learned their set while on the plane. A few songs I knew already from the show the year before, and the rest of the songs I learned while making notes on the plane.
Because I know Johan well, I have talked to him, and I even watched him play with Kamelot for one show. But it was clear that he would not be able to do a whole tour. That’s why I stepped in after the show. And that went so well that I stayed with the band. First as a stand-in for about a year, then I officially joined the band in 2019.”
Like a Sculptor
“All the songwriting in Kamelot is done by Thomas, Olli (Palotai, keyboard player) and Tommy (Karevik, singer). I haven’t co-written the songs in the sense that I have written any of the chords or the melodies. But I do think that drummers have a lot of power over the arrangements and the way things are orchestrated. You get a song, and you hammer the structure of the song out of that, like a sculptor. I see that as part of my main job as a drummer.
How much I actually contribute to the songs that way is for others to judge, but that’s what I always try to do: add structure and some little surprises. Doing one little unexpected thing per song. Of course, with a band like Kamelot, which has been around for over thirty years, you can only do so much. But you can always try to put your own spin on things without drastically altering the band’s sound.”
Drum Sounds from Saarland
One small, but noticeable change on ‘The Awakening’ is the slightly more natural drum sound. “That was very important to me”, Landenburg nods. “One of the positive effects of the pandemic was that it allowed me to work on that with a friend of mine: Phil Hillen, who is an amazing producer. Phil is also from Saarland, which is quite rural, and that has always made it quite difficult for him to do any international productions.
However, since we could not travel anywhere during the pandemic, I ended up recording a lot of things at his studio. I also recorded the drums for Alyssa White-Gluz’ album there with Phil, for example. We have worked on the drum sounds for a really long time, with a very cool drum kit: a Mapex Black Panther Design Lab.
It was important to us that the parts that were recorded there already sounded great. So we worked on those sounds for a long time, also with (producer) Sascha Paeth, to make sure that everyone would be happy with the results. We have tried to record as much as possible, and to edit as little as possible.
Of course, editing a lot has become the norm these days, which is something I personally don’t like. I understand, when there is not a lot of time or when the production as a whole demands more artificial sounds. But when you have the time to keep as many things as real as possible and edit less, I would argue that would be the best thing to do. And I hope people can hear that. We haven’t used a lot of samples, although they do get added in the mix, of course, if parts need a little extra punch.”
No Relaxed Vacation
With the members of Kamelot spread out over multiple continents, working with the band can be quite the logistic challenge. Weekly rehearsals are out of the question. “Every Wednesday!”, Landenburg jokes. “Our singer Tommy is from Sweden, but he lives in Canada. And despite being on the same continent, the distance between Canada and Florida is still quite large.
Of course, the band has always sent many things back and forth on the internet. So that wasn’t really anything new when the pandemic came around. What we usually do when a tour starts is that we meet two or three days before to rehearse. A stage rehearsal. Everybody needs to be prepared, simply because we can’t get together to rehearse every week.
With this band, we have found a way to make as much as possible of the times when we are actually together. For example, we recently played at 70000 Tons of Metal, and we combined that with photo sessions, signing autographs for the special editions, rehearsals… We simply have to make the most of that time together. We couldn’t simply have a relaxed vacation on the ship. But that’s just the way it works.”
Gimmicks for Myself
Another potential logistic challenge Landenburg tackles by travelling with relatively small drum kits. “Through the years, I have come to like bringing increasingly small set-ups with me”, he says. “So right now, I’ve got one rack tom and two floor toms: one left, one right. The position of the hi-hat and the cymbals is more important to me than having extra toms on stage. In fact, I feel like this set-up is making me more creative. Because you can always play with your tom sounds a little. Finger strokes or two up and two down, for example.
When it comes to cymbals, I do have quite a lot: three crashes, two hi-hats, a ride, a china, FX cymbals, and maybe sometimes a fourth crash. Sometimes I do certain things as gimmicks for myself while playing live. Putting a splash extra high, for instance, or for this tour I’m considering putting my second hi-hat a little higher than usual. It’s just a bit of fun.
The thing is: I have a very schooled technique. Typically American rudimentary drumming. A lot of Moeller and things like that. And when you combine that with a very ergonomic set-up, it will look like you aren’t moving at all. From a distance, it will look like you’re not even playing. That is why I enjoy putting those things a little further apart, in order to force myself to move. Just for on stage, so you will have something to offer to the audience optically.
Also, it’s just fun for me. Sometimes we check how high we can hang a china, and put it up by about a centimeter every day, haha!”
Too Traditional
It’s not just the number of drums that keeps Landenburg’s kit relatively compact. The measurements are very carefully considered. “I have tried to play with a 13″ snare”, he explains. “Simply because I thought: if I can put my legs closer together, maybe that will work better with my pedals. But it made no difference, and I simply prefer the sound of a 14″ snare. I also bring 22″ kicks with me on tour. I like 24″ kicks, but I find them very difficult to play. And 20″ is a bit too small.
There is a trend of having huge hi-hats, but I guess I’m a little bit too traditional for that, so I’ve gone for a 14″ hi-hat instead. My crashes are 17″, 18″ and 19″. I don’t like very big crashes, because they are too slow for me. I play with a lot of accents and I have to crash a lot, in which case it’s better to have smaller cymbals that open up a bit faster. For that same reason, I prefer having relatively thin cymbals.
Ever since I was a child, I have always been a Zildjian fan. Meinl was the first company that supported me, which was amazing. And of course they make great cymbals. It’s like it is with cars: Audi, BMW and Mercedes all make great cars. In terms of quality, the big brands are always good, and many of the smaller brands as well. Ultimately, what matters is your own personal preference.”
The Importance of Resonance
“I have been playing Mapex drums for about five years now, and I’m very happy with them. As a young drummer, I have had various endorsements, and I tended to see those as a next step in my career. Don’t get me wrong: I have always liked the stuff that I played, but you have to play the equipment that you think is really good. That’s your sound. And that is important.
My favorite snare, both for live and in the studio, is a Mapex Black Panther The Sledge Hammer. Unfortunately, those have been discontinued by Mapex. I’m still trying to convince Mapex to start making them again. It’s truly a shame that they have discontinued those, because they are really, really cool snares. Fortunately, I still have three of them.
I prefer playing a metal snare over a wooden snare, because I like my snare to sing. I feel like I play better with a metal snare. When my set-up sounds good, I have more rest, because I can let things ring on a kit with a beautiful sound. You can leave a hit standing. If you have a dead-sounding kit, you have to play more, because there is no resonance. It’s important to me to have a lot of resonance.”
Convenience and Reassurance
“Sometimes, what is the right kit can vary from song to song. For my Swedish band Cyhra, I only use one bass drum. Well… To be honest, I also only play one bass drum for Kamelot as well, but there are two of them in the kit. It just looks better. Also, it’s quite the reassurance to know that we only have to swap the bass drums around when something goes wrong.
I did play two kicks single pedals up until 2005, or maybe 2007. Sometimes I consider switching back to that, because I have the feeling that I can play five to ten BPM faster with two single pedals. But the convenience of a double pedal, also when it comes to sound, soundchecks and monitors, is simply amazing. There’s no rush to change anything there; I can work with the double pedals really well.
At the moment, I’m using Tama Speed Cobra pedals. I have also used a Mapex Falcon, which I still use with Cyhra sometimes. Pedals are something very, very personal. They simply have to fit you. And I have always been a Speed Cobra fan. I like them a lot. In fact, I don’t even have an endorsement with them; I simply bought them.”
Reaching the Prog Audience
Although most bands on Landenburg’s resume are metal and somewhat progressive, there is a lot of variation there. “My background is in rock”, he says. “And I also played a lot of fusion and jazz. When I was about 12 or 13, I played with the big band of my school. I have always loved that. But a lot of the bigger bands I played with are labelled power metal. Honestly though: Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody and Kamelot have a lot of progressive elements. Especially Rhapsody; the stuff we did together was really proggy.
It’s such a shame we couldn’t reach the prog audience with Rhapsody. Fans of Symphony X and Dream Theater generally just ignored it because of the Rhapsody name attached to it. And for the older Rhapsody fans, it was a bit too progressive. I truly believe that we might have eventually reached this prog audience if we had kept going. It was a bit disappointing for Luca that he constantly had to revisit his old music from the first two Rhapsody albums. We have done such cool things together, but there weren’t many people who took notice of it. Sadly, that’s just the way it is sometimes.”
Landenburg’s career has also taken some interesting turns: “I graduated in 2000, and after that, I gave private lessons. At the same time, I have always played with my own bands. First with Angels Cry, then with Broken Grace. But those bands were very progressive, and somehow we could never find the connections that we needed.
The crazy thing was: only once I started playing with Annihilator, from Canada, there were suddenly a lot more opportunities within Germany. Before that, it was very difficult to find the right people. And the right connections are everything. After that, things have gone really quickly.”
Gem Sessions
Busy as Landenburg is, he always seems to find the time for other interesting activities. “I’ve been working with Toontrack recently”, he explains. “I have sampled a lot for EZdrummer 3, and I made a midi pack for Toontrack as well. Also, I have my own jewelry firm Gem Sessions, for which I make jewelry out of cymbals. Colleagues from Anthrax, Lacuna Coil, Helloween and other bands have sent me cymbals to make them out of.”
An edited version of this interview appeared in Slagwerkkrant 236 (July-August 2023)
Kevy Metal 
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